Does secularism make people more ethical?

[Skybird]

http://www.spiegel.de/international/...777281,00.html

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Secularists make up some 15 percent of the global population, or about 1 billion people. As a group, this puts them third in size behind Christians (2.3 billion) and Muslims (1.6 billion).
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This heightened public profile may be contributing to the shrinking numbers of religious believers. Churches in the US are losing up to 1 million members every year. In Europe, secularization has advanced even further. The number of non-religious people, those who do not believe in God or any higher power, has reached approximately 40 percent in France and about 27 percent in Germany.
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So what do these increasing numbers of non-believers believe in, if not God? Sociologist Phil Zuckerman, who hopes to start a secular studies major at California's Pitzer College, says that secularists tend to be more ethical than religious people. On average, they are more commonly opposed to the death penalty, war and discrimination. And they also have fewer objections to foreigners, homosexuals, oral sex and hashish.
The most surprising insight revealed by the new wave of secular research so far is that atheists know more about the God they don't believe in than the believers themselves. This is the conclusion suggested by a 2010 Pew Research Center survey of US citizens. Even when the higher education levels of the unreligious were factored out, they proved to be better informed in matters of faith, followed by Jewish and Mormon believers.
But their knowledge doesn't seem to do them much good, since secularists rank among the least-liked groups of people in the US, falling behind even Muslims and homosexuals. In the states of South Carolina and Arkansas, those who deny the existence of a supreme being are not even permitted to hold public office.
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Germany serves as a sort of historical case study for sociologists, thanks to the distinct differences in religious tendencies between the formerly divided east and west. In the former East Germany, or German Democratic Republic (GDR), where atheism long ago shed its association with the educated classes and became a common value, it has evolved over three generations.
Nearly 67 percent of eastern Germans have no religious affiliation, compared to just 18 percent in the West. This trend isn't likely to change in the foreseeable future, since children who grew up with non-religious parents are almost certain to remain secular. The mother's beliefs have an especially significant impact on the children's belief systems.
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Boston University's Catherine Caldwell-Harris is researching the differences between the secular and religious minds. "Humans have two cognitive styles," the psychologist says. "One type finds deeper meaning in everything; even bad weather can be framed as fate. The other type is neurologically predisposed to be skeptical, and they don't put much weight in beliefs and agency detection."

[MH]

Originally Posted by Skybird

http://www.spiegel.de/international/...777281,00.html

Does secularism make people more ethical?

Im really not sure about that generally speaking....

[Herr-Berbunch]

My wife and I are secularist, and quite ethical (usually). IMO religion is the worst thing to happen to the human race - how many have died in it's many names? From a thread about a year ago it seemed that subsim, or at least the GT-frequenting portion was quite secular

In answer to your title - yes, I do. There is no other preoccupation, so that a more ethical judgement can be made.

[Anthony W.]

Religion, when practiced responsibly and civilly, is the best way to keep a population at peace.

[NeonSamurai]

Originally Posted by Anthony W.

Religion, when practiced responsibly and civilly, is the best way to keep a population at peace.

Unless you have 2 religions, then there will be no peace.

[Herr-Berbunch]

Originally Posted by NeonSamurai

Unless you have 2 religions, then there will be no peace.

Yeah, Buddhists v's Sikhs - that'd be one to watch

[Herr-Berbunch]

My wife teaches religion to 11-16 year olds, and being secular make her job so much easier - when I was at school we did christianity, judaism and a touch of islam, now they don't learn stuff out of a text book (at least not in my wife's class), instead they talk about their points of view, and listen to others - eventually they empathise and can see others' pov without even being asked. The subject of their views changes - religion, abortion, marriage, families, death, rape, neighbours, communities, nationalities - and within that is a more ethical view.

They don't need to know that some bloke built a big boat and took on umpteen animals when it rained, etc.!

Matt- didn't even think of the catholic priest scandels. Catholics covering things up, never *cough - helping Nazis escape to South America*

[MH]

Originally Posted by NeonSamurai

Unless you have 2 religions, then there will be no peace.

Its funny....
if you talked to many RELIGIUS Jews and Arabs you would find that on basic level there is a lot respect between the two religions.
Politicalization of religion is more an issue.
Political religion is just an ideology like any ideology than millions died for....

[NeonSamurai]

Originally Posted by MH

Its funny....
if you talked to many RELIGIUS Jews and Arabs you would find that on basic level there is a lot respect between the two religions.
Politicalization of religion is more an issue.
Political religion is just an ideology like any ideology than millions died for....

The fundamental problem, is that almost all religions tend to express the view that only they have got it right, and logically therefor everyone else must convert to the one and only true faith. After that comes the politics and power structures, followed by exploitation and often subjugation.

There are some exceptions, but they tend to be either not really a religion (or at least not theistic), or are not organized.

[Platapus]

Originally Posted by Anthony W.

Religion, when practiced responsibly and civilly..,

When that ever happens, let us know, please.

Originally Posted by Platapus

When that ever happens, let us know, please.

It happens all the time, they just keep it to themselves like their supposed to.

Unfortunately the world is filled with nutjobs who wave their religions around like a penis and shove it down everyone else's throat.

So what do these increasing numbers of non-believers believe in,

Belief is the key word, what is belief, what do you believe in if anything. Love, Faith, the human Spirit to overcome all things (I think of Lance Armstrong here). My theory is, even athiests believe, it's just we have lost the understanding of what belief really is.

The British pastor, Smith Wigglesworth said, " if you have to pray about something more than once, that is unbelief " . So what is the point, the point is this, even life long Church going folk struggle with belief the same as everyone else in the secular. Jesus said, "if you believe in me, greater things will you do"

I don't know if anyone will follow this link and watch, but I will say this before you click on it. This man did this a documented 29 times and his life long ministry was "only believe"

[Armistead]

Originally Posted by Anthony W.

Religion, when practiced responsibly and civilly, is the best way to keep a population at peace.

But it's never had that result. Historically religion was mixed with politics. Take the Roman Church, they were on the down end, the christian movement was big, not only did they join it, they reformed it to a political system in which they could control. They created many doctrines of fear, such as eternal torment, others that caused guilt. They used these tools to control people. If they couldn't, they stirred fervor and just killed. This has been the history of the world, religion has never caused peace, but caused more war and torment than we can grasp.

I think religious people seek God to make a better world or they accept the world is going to hell and only God can fix it, secular people want to fix and solve the problems of humanity in hopes of a better world.

[August]

Well one thing is sure, secular people see themselves as ethically superior. Sounds pretty arrogant to me.

[Sailor Steve]

Not all of us. To me ethics and morality exist, period. Whether you attribute it to a higher power or to innate is your choice. All this talk about who is superior has it backwards, I think. Anyone who says "I'm more ethical than you" has already missed the point.